The Crown of the Stars - A Spelljammer 5e Tale

Realm Space

Exactly when the native of Abeir-Toril themselves began to traverse wildspace is unknown, though it dates back to at least the era of Cormanthyr. The elves of Realmspace have always been known to have a strong presence in wildspace.

The system has remained a stronghold for the Elven fleet throughout the Unhuman War There are two major elven settlements in Realmspace, both are on the surface of Toril, Evermeet and Evereska. Both allow vessels crewed by elves to land, but forbid non-elves from landing. The EIN plays a part in policing both of these blockades and maintains an ambassador to each nation. Many elven merchants take advantage of their monopoly of trade with these realms. There are essentially two elven fleets within Realmspace. The first is the Evermeet defence force. Consisting of 6 “Ruathimaer” (Starwings) this fleets sole purpose is to defend the airspace of Evermeet. It is aided in this task by squadrons of elves mounted upon giant eagles and pegasi.

Miirphys Irithyl (reign -1338 to -791 DR), an early coronal of the elven nation of Cormanthyr, was a supporter of the elven high mages desire to launch more spelljammer ships. The High Magic elaorman ritual was often used in the construction of the elven crystalline spelljammer ships, and was a requirement in the construction of the Monarch spelljammer ships.

The reason that the elven high mages were so keen on creating more spelljammer ships was in order to counter the Netherese expansion into wildspace. The Netherese had been dabbling and exploring Realmspace for a while. The elves suspect that the Netherese discovered the magic of spelljamming as early as -1114 DR, though in truth it was much earlier.

The Netheril mage Oberon (2839-2905 NY) is said to be the founder of Netheril’s spelljammer industry, the “Father of Realmspace” (or so his followers claimed at least). Oberon was born into the shipbuilding industry, his father having been a shipbuilder before him, and he dutifully followed in his father’s footsteps. Unlike him though he imbued his vessels with magic, and it is claimed that he led the other mages of Netheril into building spelljamming vessels.

It really wasn’t until 2795 NY (-1064 DR) that the Netherese officially launched themselves into wildspace with serious intent. They found it to be an abundant source of wealth. The city of Yeoman’s Loft became the center of Netheril’s Realmspace activities.

However, the Netherese also found the expense of maintaining the docking stations and spelljammer ships too high, and the danger too great, and they stopped all spelljamming activity in 2895 NY. The Elven Imperial Navy (a conglomeration of elven interests in space, much bigger in scope than just Cormanthyr’s spacefaring) is said to have constantly harried the Netherese as well.

Spelljamming in the recent era

The Red Wizards of Thay have made the move to wild space, setting up their enclaves and providing helmsmen services as well as their normal proclivities. There is some mixed feelings between the Red Wizards and The Arcane who ply similar goods and services. They are quickly expanding out into Realmspace and have established an Enclave on the Rock of Bral.

Worlds of Realmspace

Anadia

This planet is the closest to the Sun in the Realms’ system. Much of its surface cracks into gargantuan canyons that dwarf the Great Rift on the third planet, Toril. This is because the persistent heat from Anadia’s proximity to the Sun keeps the equatorial regions of the planet dry and unlivable by most humanoids’ standards. This heat and lack of foliage has made this small planet the perfect home for umber hulks and many other rock-eating creatures.

The second planet from the sun in Realmspace, is a spherical gas giant. Because of its close proximity to the Sun, the planet is quite warm. The temperature never falls below 75 degrees except at the poles, where it can reach as low as 40 during the winter. Inside the huge atmospheric envelope of this planet float hundreds of earth and water islands. Every 30 hours or so, they revolve around the central gravitational point of the planet, which creates day and night effects for the islands’ inhabitants.

One should not be deceived into believing that all of these islands levitate at the same altitude. Each one floats about in its own orbit. Most islands lie between 50 miles and 30,000 miles from the planet’s center. This phenomenon causes several “eclipses” every day for most of the islands, as higher ones pass before the Sun and cast their shadows onto the islands directly below them.

Toril is by far the most populated planet in the Realmspace sphere, besides being the most powerful and best known. The planet is inhabited by the largest variety of life as well. It has a wide range of habitats and climatic regions which support these creatures. The most prevalent sentient species in existence here is the humans, with other humanoid races following at a close second. Toril is the third planet from the Sun. A thin cloud cover often obscures the planet from sight, but most often, every feature is clearly visible from wildspace. There are several large deserts which appear to support no life, but in actuality, they sustain some of the most beautiful and obscure life found in Realmspace. The terrestrial, aquatic, and avian life forms on Toril are some of the most unique, which makes this planet an absolute treasure house for zoologists, collectors, or those interested in magical creation. In fact, new plants and animals and localized variant species are being discovered constantly. It is believed that many of the species on other planets actually evolved here, but were transported to the other worlds for either study or to populate an otherwise animal-empty world.

Ports of Call:
Having mostly open-minded and tolerant people, Toril boasts many ports in which spelljammers can dock. This section discusses the most prevalent locations. Granted, a spelljammer can dock nearly anywhere and conduct trade, but only a few locations fully accept or even know of the aspects of life in wildspace.These locations no longer hold the superstitions that these adventurers contract lethal diseases while in space, or contagious curses which sent them there in the first place. A few, however, may feel threatened by the traders from above, but they are not controlled by these inane fears. Located on the continent of the Heartland,there are two known ports of call for these spacefaring ships.

Karpri

This planet is a water body in the purest form, with no islands of land to speak of. The surface of Karpri can be split into three separate sections: the frigid polar region, the clear sailing area, and the equatorial sargasso.The planet is a truly beautiful thing when viewed from space. Many an artist has sailed here to paint the sight. The Karpri sky usually is clear and bright, allowing the sun to warm the equatorial regions, raising the humidity to almost unbearable limits.

Chandos

Chandos is a large water body with no moon. The water is filled with irregular chunks of rocks, laid one upon another. These rocks, when piled high enough, pierce the water level, forming irregular and unstable islands. There are several hundred of these islands in existence at all times. The planetary surface is continually changing: Chandos has been compared to a box of marbles filled with water. As the planet rotates, which it does every 48 hours, the randomly shaped rocks shift. This can make complete islands disappear, caverns and tunnels can become flooded or inverted, and mountains can be raised in a single day.

Glyth

Glyth is a sad world indeed. The atmosphere is so foul that entering it reminds visitors of a charnel house or a dead forest during a severe fire. In fact, forest fires do regularly sweep across the charred surface of the planet, burning anything that had the opportunity to get a foothold in the soil.The planet is warm, but the continually raging fires have almost destroyed its air envelope. The atmosphere rains frequently as a way to rid itself of the lingering smoke particles. These rains are somewhat acidic, though. The poles are capped with ice like most planets, but nothing lives there. The ice and snow here is dirty

Garden

Garden has 12 small earth bodies revolving around it. The planet itself is actually a cluster of earth bodies lying relatively close together, anchored to each other by the roots of a gargantuan plant. Each share a common atmospheric envelope. The 12 moons, however, are well outside the spherical reaches of the atmosphere. The asteroids making up the planet Garden are far enough apart to allow sight between them. At times that can be as far as 100 yards, but for the most part, they are no closer than 100 feet. This allows many spell jamming ships to pass between them if maneuvered carefully.

H’Catha

This planet, the farthest from the Sun, is a flat water world with a tall mountain in the center. The surprisingly clear water is 300 miles thick throughout the planet. The water’s edge is tapered and shrouded in mist and fog, making it very dangerous to approach because the possibility of falling off the world is very high. The water of this flat world constantly falls off the edge as well. When this happens, the water immediately turns to steam and collects at the world’s edge and under the planet.

There are very few land features on H’Catha, but what features do exist definitely stand out. First of all, this planet is unique in the Realmspace system because it is the only flat world planet. This flatness, with the Spindle, makes the planet look like a sundial when viewed from afar. The oceans are always calm, but the moon orbiting the planet causes tidal fluctuations which create continual water circulation. Thousands of different algae live in these oceans, converting the Sun’s rays into oxygen.

Galleon Nebula

This nebula looks very much like a large, multicolored galleon ship. Its sails appear to blow in a wind that does not exist. With mariner spyglasses, the oars on the sides of the ship can be seen rowing in their never-ending task. The nebulosityis two million miles long and high, and well over 100,000 miles wide. It is visible primarily during the autumn and early winter. The Galleon Nebula sails around the heavensin a very slow orbit. It takes nearly 4,000 months for it to make a complete revolution around the celestial heavens. This nebula and the Color Spray Nebula are never seen together in the same sky. They orbit around the sun in the same orbit, with the same orbital period, but they are at opposite positions in that orbit.

Color Spray Nebula

This nebulosity looks very much like the effects of a color spray spell. It is a fan shaped object that is seen primarily during the spring and early summer. It is approximately two million miles long, with a width of one million miles at one end, and 1 00 feet at the other. The worshipers of Mystra believe this to be a sign from their god, that their use of the magic that she awards them pleases her.